Machine for applying hard surfacing metal to work pieces



Dec. 13, 1955 G. G. ALLENBAUGH 2,726,628

MACHINE FOR APPLYING HARD SURFACING METAL TO WORK PIECES Filed April 1-, 1954 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR BY M ' I ATTORNEY Dec. 13, 1955 G. G. ALLENBAUGH MACHINE FOR APPLYING HARD SURFACING METAL TO WORK PIECES Filed April 1, 1954 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 ATTORNEY Dec. 13, 1955 e. G. ALLENBAUGH 2,726,623

MACHINE FOR APPLYING HARD SURFACING METAL TO WORK PIECES Filed April 1, 1954 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 1 N VENTOR -JMMZ ATTORNEY 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 G. G. ALLENBAUGH MACHINE FOR APPLYING HARD SURFACING METAL TO WORK PIECES Dec. 13, 1955 Filed April 1, 1954 r1-\ 1Z L,

I I l l R O m E v W.

ATTORNEY United States Patent MACHINE FOR APPLYING HARD SURFACING METAL TO WORK PIECES George G. Allenbaugh, Wadsworth, Ohio, assignor to The Ohio Injector Company, Wadsworth, Ohio, a corporation of Ohio Application April 1, 1954, Serial No. 420,255

3 Claims. (Cl. 118-47) This invention relates to machining apparatus, and it has special reference to apparatus of a semi-automatic nature for applying hard surfacing metal to work pieces constituting wear-receiving parts of mechanisms of various kinds.

Although not limited thereto, the invention will be described hereinafter in its particular application to valve gate wedge members whereby hard metal, wear-resisting surfacing may be furnished on the wear-receiving, seating surfaces of such wedge members.

The primary object of the invention is to provide apparatus, including mechanism substantially of known type for depositing the hard-surfacing metal in appropriate manner upon, and fusing it to, the parts to be hard-surfaced, and means for mounting and presenting such parts to the metal depositing mechanism in such a manner that a series of such parts of like nature and dimensions may be successively, individually presented after the mounting and presenting means have been appropriately adjusted by reference to one of such pieces or to a previously prepared appropriate template, thus making the apparatus semiautomatic in use.

Having reference particularly to gate wedges for valves, which normally have their seating surfaces to be treated in accordance with the invention arranged at an included angle of 1, a further object of the invention is to provide in the mounting and presenting means an arrangement of parts serving to so mount such wedge members that the opposite seating surfaces will, alternately, be so disposed that this compensation for the included angle will be made.

Another object is to provide means whereby the apparatus may be modified to handle work pieces of various kinds Whether of angular nature, as just described, or not, the mounting and positioning means being readily adaptable to this end.

With these and other objects in view, the invention comprises, in combination with metal depositing means substantially of known type, such as oxyacetylene torch means for preheating the work piece and oxyacetylene torch means for melting and applying, by fusing, the hard surfacing metal from a rod thereof, of work mounting and positioning means including a framework or stand carrying the metal depositing means and a work indexing or locating means in longitudinally spaced relation, a vertically reciprocable elevator member substantially spanning the space longitudinally between said metal depositing means and said work locating means, work supporting table means carried by said elevator member and movable vertically therewith and longitudinally thereof and capable thereby of locating the work for initial positioning by cooperation with said indexing or locating means and for operative adjustment with respect to said metal applying means, and means for imparting movement to the movable parts, some of said movement-imparting means being mechanically actuated and some being manually actuated, all as will be explained hereinafter more fully and finally claimed.

in the accompanying drawings illustrating the invention, in the several figures of which like parts are similarly designated,

Fig. 1 is a side view of apparatus embodying the invention,

Fig. 2 is a plan view of the elevator member and the carriage means of the work supporting means assembled therewith,

Fig. 3 is an end view of the apparatus viewed from the left of Fig. l, with the work supporting table means and the metal applying means omitted,

Fig. 4 is a section taken on the line 4-4, Fig. 2, with parts omitted,

Fig. 5 is a view of the opposite side of the carriage and work supporting table means from that seen in Fig. 1,

Fig. 6 is an enlarged fragmentary sectional side elevation showing the elevator member and work supporting table means and fixture in position to locate the Work piece (also shown) with respect to the indexing or locating means,

Fig. 7 is a fragmentary view showing the table means provided with work supporting means modified from those illustrated in Fig. 6,

Fig. 8 is an end view of the work indexing means viewed from the left of Fig. 6,

Fig. 9 is a sectional elevation taken on the line 9-9, Fig. 8,

Fig. 10 is a top plan view of the parts shown in Figs. 8 and 9,

Fig. 11 is a top plan view of the work supporting plate and mounting fixture shown in Figs. 1 and 6 with a valve gate wedge shown located thereon in broken lines, and

Fig. 12 is a view similar to Fig. 11, but with parts broken away to show the supporting structure of the mounting fixture in more detail.

Referring particularly to Figs. 1 and 3, it will be seen that the apparatus includes a framework or stand including similar bed members 1 and 2 laterally spaced by similar end members, only one (3) of which is shown (Fig. 2) and to these bed members are rigidly attached a left end frame member comprising upright members or columns 4 and 5 connected by a top bridge member 6, a similar, but shorter, opposite or right end frame member having upright members or columns 7 and 8 and a connecting bridge member 9, and an intermediate frame member having upright members or columns 10 and 11 and a connecting bridge member 12. Spanning the bridge members 9' and 12 of the right end and intermediate frame members is a platform 13 which provides a rigid support for the metal applying means, and between the right end and intermediate frame members is arranged the control panel 14 and its appurtenances, all as will be described hereinafter in more detail.

Arranged longitudinally of the stand and spanning the space between the left end frame member and the intermediate frame member are the elevator means comprising a frame having a plurality of longitudinal track members including three relatively laterally spaced upper members 15, 16 and 17, and a lower member 18 spaced below and in alignment with the intermediate or central upper member 16. These track members extend between, and are rigidly secured at their opposite ends to an end plate 19 and a stop plate 20. At opposite sides of the elevator frame, and preferably longitudinally aligned with and below the outer upper track members 15 and 17 is a pair of similar shafts 21 having rotative hearings in the end and stop plates 19 and 20, respectively, and these shafts carry adjacent to their opposite ends, for rotation with them, similar pairs of pinions 22 and 23 for meshing engagement with opposite pairs of complemental vertical racks 24 and 25 carried respectively by the columns 4-5 and 10-11 of the left end and intermediate frame members. The

racks 24 are provided with facing plates 24' which serve to restrain the elevator frame against longitudinal shifting by guiding the pinions 22 in their vertical travel.

Rotation is imparted to the shafts 21 at the will of the operator by pairs of mating miter gears 26-27, 2829, and a back shaft 30 through a clutch 31 and transmission 32 the drive shaft of which latter may be mechanically driven through gearing 33, 34 from a reversible motor 35, or manually driven by means of a hand wheel 36, and thus vertical ascent and descent may be imparted to the elevator frame. Preferably, upper and lower limit switches (not shown) in circuit with the motor 35, and its control switch later to be described, are provided for limiting vertical travel of the elevator frame. In order that suitable, predetermined vertical positioning of the elevator frame may be indicated, and such positioning repeated at will, the upright member 4 of the left end frame member is provided with a scale 37 upon which readings may be taken from a cooperating pointer 38 (Figs. 1 and 6) carried by the stop plate 20 of the elevator frame.

Mounted on V-rollers 39 and 40 for travel longitudinally of the track members 15, 16, 17 and 18 of the elevator frame (Figs. 2, 3 and 4) is a travelling carriage 41 provided at one end wtih a buffer plate 42 and at the opposite end with a spring-biased latch member 43 and a stop bar 44 (Fig. 2). Travel of the carriage along the track members is limited in one direction by abutment of the buffer plate 42 against the stop plate 20 of the elevator frame, and in the opposite direction by abutment of the stop bar 44 against a split collar forming a combined stop and detent 45 mounted on and adjustable longitudinally of the track member 16 and capable of being adjustably clamped thereon by a clamp screw 46 (Figs. 2 and 4) actuated by a handle 47. When the carriage 41 is shifted along the track members of the elevator frame to operative position as determined by a predetermined setting of the stop and detent 45, with its stop bar 44 abutting against such stop and detent, the latch member 43 will automatically engage the stop and detent, as will be apparent from an inspection of Fig. 2, and the carriage will be locked thereby in predetermined operative position. For releasing the latch member 43 there is provided a trip rod 48 having a handle 49.

Secured to the carriage 41 for travel therewith longitudinally of the elevator frame, and vertically with such elevator frame, is the work supporting and positioning means 50 shown in the drawings as a Ransome Positioner," manufactured by Worthington Pump and Machinery Corp. These means include a work-supporting turntable 51 having a supporting shaft 52 angularly adjustable to tilt the turntable through an angle of approximately 90 by means of a worm and wheel gearing, not shown, actuated by the crank handle 104, and the shaft 52 is driven by an electric motor, not shown, through a variable speed hydraulic or electric transmission member, not shown, to rotate the turntable at any one of various selected speeds. In order to facilitate shifting of the carriage 41 longitudinally of the track members of the elevator frame, and with it of the positioner 50, an offstanding rigid handle 53 is provided.

The work indexing and locating means (Figs. 1, 6 and 8 to 10) include an arm 54 adjustably secured by means of a slot 55 and bolts 56 to a lever 57 carried by a shaft 53 pivoted in bearing blocks 59 bolted to the bridge member 6 of the left end frame member of the stand of the apparatus. The free end of the arm 54 carries a center point pin 60 freely vertically slidable in a bushing member .61 and it is provided with a weight 62 normally urging it to its lowermost position in which contact of the weight 62 with the upper end of the bushing member 61 serves as a stop.

It will be understood, as will be brought out hereinafter in the description of the operation of the apparatus, that the axis of the center point pin ,60 must be exactly vertical and must, moreover, be exactly in longitudinal alignment with the axis of rotation of the work-supporting turntable 51 of the positioner 50. Proper machining and assembly of the lever 57 and its shaft 58 and bearings 59 insure vertical alignment of the axis of the center point pin 6-3 in a plane longitudinally of the apparatus, and in order to secure proper adjustment of this axis in a plane transversely of the apparatus the bearing blocks 59 are provided with a connecting cross bar 63 provided with an adjusting screw 64 the end of which bears against, and provides an adjustable support for, the free end of the lever 57. Lateral adjustment of the lever 57, and hence of the arm 54 and its center point pin 60 may be accomplished by adjustment of the lever 57 axially of the shaft 53 by means of a set screw 66, or by axial shifting of the shaft 58 in its bearing blocks 59 by adjustment of stop collars 65 engaging the outer faces of the bearing blocks and fixed by set screws 66 (Fig. 8).

The hard surfacing metal depositing and fusing torch mechanism is of substantially conventional form, that shown in the drawings (Fig. 1) being of the type manufactured and supplied by Haynes Stellite Corp. It includes a pair of preheating torches 67 and 68, for preheating the work piece, and a pair of melting and fusing torches 69 and 70 which serve to melt down the end of the rod 71 of hard-surfacing metal, such as Stellite, and depositing it upon and causing it to bond with the properly preheated area of the work piece. The preheating torches 67 and 68 are individually vertically adjustable and jointly horizontally adjustable and can be rotated with a base 67' carried by a rotatable standard 63 (Fig. 1) but do not automatically reciprocate, but the rod-feeding means 71, and the melting torches 69 and 70 and their appurtenances including the usual oxygen and acetylene gas supplying conduits 72, are carried by a head structure 73, and this head structure is provided with means for its vertical, lateral and longitudinal adjustment, such as the adjusting screws 74, and is mounted upon a slide 75 reciprocable in a base 76 fixed to the platform 13 of the right end and intermediate frame members of the stand, such reciprocation being imparted by crank 77 and link means 78, 78' through an intermediate lever (not shown) the stroke of which is variable by an adjusting screw 79, all in a conventional manner. The crank disc 77 is rotated through reducing gearing means 80 by a motor 81. By this arrangement the torch head 73 may be appropriately adjusted to the work piece and the melting torches and the weld rod 71 may be reciprocated over the area of the work piece to be hard-surfaced while the work piece rotates with its mount upon the turntable 51 of the positioner 50.

The control panel 14 carries four pairs of needle valves 82 for adjusting the proportion of oxygen and acetylene gases supplied to the four torches 67 to 70, and four treadle, or kick-lever, members 83 for controlling the supply of both gases, already proportioned at the valves 82, to the several torches, all as is customary in installations of this kind.

Electric switch means 84, 85 and 86 are mounted on the frame adjacent to the control panel so as that all controls may be convenient to an operator whose station is adjacent to such panel during functioning of the apparatus.

Gas supply lines and electric wiring have been omitted from the showing of the drawings as their arrangement is conventional and a showing .of them is considered to be unnecessary to an understanding of the invention in accordance with the description of the operation of the apparatus thereof hereinafter given.

Having reference particularly to Figs. 1, 5, 6, and 11 and 12, it will be seen that the turntable 51 of the positioner 50 is provided with a bolted-on cover plate 87 of heat resistant and insulating material, such as Transite, to protect the mechanism of the positioner from the heat of the torches 67 to 70 during the hard metal surfacing operation. This cover 'plate 87 provides a support for the mounting mean s or fixture, for the work pieces, including a pair of similar combination side plates and slides 88 joined by transverse brace bars 89 and 90 and having their lower edges bearing in positioning slide grooves 91 in the cover plate 87 for unitary sliding adjustment under the influence of an adjusting screw 92 connected with the adjacent brace bar 90 and threaded through a lug 93 bolted to the cover plate 87 and turntable 51. A knurled knob 94 facilitates adjusting rotation of this screw 92.

If, as shown in Figs. 1, 5, 6, 11 and 12, the apparatus is to be usedfor the hard surfacing of gate wedges normally having between their operative seating surfaces a and b (Figs. 6 and 11) an included angle of 10, the upper edges of the side plates 88 will be finished at an angle of 10 to the horizontal and hence to the upper surface of the cover plate 87, and a mounting plate 95 having its upper surface at the same angle will be located on the side plates 88 by grooves 96 complemental to their upper edges and secured by screws 97.

Thus, when a gate wedge is positioned on the upper surface of this mounting plate, as shown in Figs. 6 and 11, its upper seating surface a will lie in a horizontal plane as is desired for properly accommodating this seating surface to the application of the hard surfacing metal.

It will be noted that the cover plate 87 has a centering hole 98 which, when this plate is bolted to the turntable is in direct vertical alignment with the centering hole 99 of the turntable 51 and hence centered over its axis of rotation.

Located centrally of the mounting plate 95 is a depressible center point member 100 normally projected outwardly by a spring 101 extending'within the center point member and having a fixed bearing against the cover 102 of a housing member 103.

If it is desired to have the apparatus operate upon work pieces which require for their mounting no compensation for angularity, the mounting plate 95 may be attached to side plates 88' (Fig. 7) the upper edges of which are parallel to their lower edges, thus serving to support the mounting plate 95 with its upper surface parallel to the upper surfaces of the cover plate 87 and turntable 51.

Also, in order to adapt the apparatus for treating other types of work pieces, particularly such as have parts which may be chuck-engaged for their support upon the cover plate 87, the mounting fixture including the mounting plate 95 and side plates 88 or 88, and their adjuncts, may be removed and a suitable chuck bolted to the cover plate and turntable. It will be apparent, moreover, that types of mounting fixtures other than those specifically referred to could be devised and used in combination with the turntable 51 to adapt the apparatus for the handling of a great variety of work pieces.

The operation of the apparatus, having reference to the hard surfacing of valve gate wedges of the type shown in Figs. 6 and 11 as representative only, is as follows: The operator standing in front of the apparatus at about the position already referred to, grasps the handle 53 and moves the carriage 41 to the left until its buffer plate 42 abuts against the stop plate 20 of the elevator frame, and with the tilt of the turntable 51 set at zero by manipulation of the handle 104, as indicated on the scale 105 (Figs. 1 and 6) he frees the turntable from the drive of the hereinbefore referred to variable speed transmission member by actuation of the clutch means 106 (Fig. 5) to shift the position of the button 107 (Fig. 6) from right to left, and manually rotates the turntable with its work piece mounting fixture until the axis of the knob 94 points directly toward him (90 clockwise from the position shown in Figs. 1, 6, 11 and 12). He then places upon the mounting plate 95 of the fixture a previously machined work piece (gate wedge) with the center hole a of its under surface in centering engagement with the cen- 6. ter pin 100 of the mounting plate 95 and its axis A-B (Fig. 11) in alignment with the axis C-D (Fig. 12) of the mounting fixture and hence transversely of the apparatus. Thereafter, by appropriate operation of the switch 84 (Fig. 1) he energizes the motor 35 to raise the elevator frame and with it the carriage 41 and positioner 50 until the opposite center hole d of the work piece is in position for centering engagement with the relatively fixed indexing center pin 60 which has previously been adjusted to exact dead center as indicated by the center line CL, Fig. 6, over the centers 98 and 99 of the cover plate 87 and turntable 51. Then, by appropriate lateral adjustment of the mounting plate 95 by means of the screw 92 the work piece may be shifted so that the center pin 60 will fall accurately into the center hole d of the work piece, thus insuring that its annular seating surface a is concentric with the center of rotation of the turntable 51.

In accordance with this practice of positioning the work piece (gate wedge) upon the mounting fixture concentrically with the turntable, it will be apparent that gate wedges of various thicknesses, to suit valves of different sizes and to handle different pressures, may be properly positioned for the hard surfacing treatment merely by the described proper location of the transverse center line with respect to the center of rotation of the turntable.

Once the aforesaid adjustment of the mounting fixture is made, all subsequently mounted work pieces which are dimensionally alike, and properly machined, and like that from which the adjustments were made, will have their annular faces to be hard surfaces so positioned as to rotate accurately horizontally and concentrically with the turntable and in proper relation to the mechanism for applying the hard surfacing metal.

When the work piece has thus been positioned on the mounting fixture the elevator frame is lowered by actuation of the switch 84 to reverse the motor 35, and then, by means of the handle 53 the carriage is shifted to the right (Fig. 1) until the bar 44 abuts against the stop and detent 45, and the latch member 43 under the influence of its spring, snaps into holding engagement with the stop and detent. suitable actuation of the switch 84 until the Work piece is at a proper'level for operative association with the torches 67, 68, 69 and 70, which have preferably already been properly adjusted with respect to each other in accommodation to the size and nature of the work piece, and by loosening the clamping screw 46 of the stop and detent 45 the stop and detent may be moved upon the track member 16, moving with it carriage 41, by virtue of the engaged latch member 43, until the work piece is properly centered with respect to the torches and surfacing metal rod 71. Thereupon, the screw 46 is tightened to fix this adjustment.

Thereafter, the turntable drive is restored by moving the button 107 to the left, the switch is closed to energize the motor (not shown) which drives the turntable 51 through the variable speed transmission member, and by proper manipulation of the control member 108 the speed of rotation of the turntable may be controlled by proper adjustment of the variable speed transmission member, the gas valve levers 83 are set to open their valves, the torches are lighted (preferably first the preheat torches so that the work piece may be brought to a proper preliminary heat prior to deposition of the hard surfacing metal), the automatic feed (not specifically shown) for the rod 71 is made operative, and the switch 86 is closed to energize the motor 81 which furnishes power to reciprocate the head 73, suitable adjustment of the reciprocative stroke in accommodation to the Width of the annular surface a of the work piece being made by a proper adjustment of the screw 79.

Obviously, as the work piece rotates with the turntable 51 (clockwise for the arrangement of the torches 67 and 70 in the embodiment shown in Fig. 1) its annular surface a will progressively be preheated by the oxyacetylene Then the elevator frame is again raised by flames from the preheating torches .67 and 68 and, as the preheated area comes beneath the surfacing metal rod 71 and its melting torches 69 and 70, the melted metal of the rod will be deposited upon and fused to the annular surface.

Usually, a single rotation of the work piece is sufiicient to fully accomplish the hard surfacing operation.

After hard surfacing of the work piece has been completed, feed of the rod 71 is arrested, the elevator frame is lowered to remove the work piece from the hard surfacing zone, rotation of the turntable is arrested, and the trip rod 48 is actuated to release the latch 43 from the stop and detent 45, whereafter the carriage is moved to the left, the Work piece is turned over upon the mounting plate 95 with its center hole d in engagement with the center pin 100, and its axis AB located as before. The carriage may then be moved further to the left until its bufier plate 42 abuts against the stop plate 26 of the elevator frame, and the indexing of the work piece in this reversed position may be proceeded with in the manner previously described. Ordinarily, however, opposite sides of an individual work piece, or of work pieces of the same nature, may, as hereinbefore indicated, be efiectively and accurately positioned upon the mounting fixture of the turntable, once it has been adjusted in the manner already described, without further reference to the indexing center pin 60.

After the work piece has thus been reversed upon the mounting fixture, the carriage is again restored to its predetermined right hand position as determined by abutment of the bar 44, and engagement of the latch member 43, with the previously fixedly positioned stop and detent 45, the work piece is raised into the hard surfacing zone of the torches, and the annular surface b hard surfaced in the same manner as was the similar surface a.

If desired, a single side of a series of work pieces may be successively hard surfaced prior to hard surfacing of their opposite sides, thus making unnecessary the repeated use of tongs for handling the pieces because of their rather extreme heat. However, when the two sides of individual work pieces are treated in succession, as has been described, cooling of the pieces to any appreciable extent does not take place, and this retained heat makes more effective the action of the preheating torches.

Various changes and modification are considered to be Within the principle of the invention and the scope of the following claims.

What I claim is:

1. In a machining apparatus particularly adapted for applying hard metal surfacing to work pieces, means for applying such hard metal surfacing, and means longitudinally spaced therefrom for indexing work pieces for proper presentation to said surfacing applying means, and means for supporting said work pieces for their presentation to said indexing means and said surfacing applying means, including elevator means substantially spanning the space therebetween and vertically adjustable with respect thereto, a carriage mounted upon said elevator means and adjustably movable relatively thereto normal to such vertical movement, and work piece supporting and positioning means mounted on said carriage and movable therewith.

2. In a machining apparatus particularly adapted for applying hard metal surfacing to work pieces, a stand including frame members relatively spaced, one of said frame members carrying means for applying the hard metal surfacing and the other frame member carrying work piece indexing means, elevator means substantially spanning the space between said frame members and vertically movable with respect thereto and hence to the surfacing metal applying means and indexing means carried by them, a carriage carried by said elevator means and movable thereon longitudinally of said space, and work piece mounting means carried by said carriage.

3. Apparatus as claimed in claim 2, in which the elevator means include a substantially horizontal frame, respectively mating rack and pinion means carried by said frame members and elevator frame, and means for actuating said pinion means to cause them to thereby elevate and depress said elevator frame.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,968,514 Brustle July 31, 1934 2,295,702 Wissler Sept. 15, 1942 2,301,763 Wagner Nov. 10, 1942 2,431,781 Wagner Dec. 2, 1947 2,432,058 Wiken et al. Dec. 2, 1947 

